Thanksgiving in the MTC

Goofing around with the comps on P-Day

Dear Mom and Dad,

I am handwriting this letter to you because I just wrote you a 30 minute email, but when I sent it to you, my computer died and it didn't send it, and the email just disappeared. So now I will try to repeat my email here.

First of all, Friday is our new P-Day. I thought we'd have to wait a week-and-a-half to email/write you, but we're able to write you today. Also, my new mailbox is MTC Mailbox #216. The rest of the address is the same. Don't worry if you have sent some stuff to the old mailbox. I'm sure it will work out and I'll receive it. Please tell everyone about the mailbox number change.

Elder Lobo, one of our Dominican Republic elders, had his visa delayed, and so he has to stay with us Argentina elders for a couple of weeks instead of going down to the Dominican Republic with the others. This means that there are four of us here, so they split up our tri companionship. I am now companions with Elder Anderson. And Elder Lobo (Wolff) and Elder Vanderholm are companions.

The tri was really fun, but I definitely like the twosome better. First of all, all four of us still hang out together as though we are all one companionship, and we share the same room. The difference is that during Study Time, (which we separate into our companionship for) Elder Anderson and I are able to focus a lot better and get more accomplished. We have been able to get into some really deep stuff. The spirit is very strong here, and I've become very aware of that this week. Sometimes the things we have come up with during Companion Study Time are so profound that we say, "Wow, we have got to write this down!" A lot of the time we are just being taught by the Spirit, because we are realizing things we didn't know before.

We are going to be moving into a different room and our new district today, which we will be doing very shortly. Our old Branch district is 42-F. Our new one is 44-F. Our new classroom will be 18M-535, which is just on the other side of the 5th floor, which is the very top floor and has a good view. Our new residence will be 5M-319, which is just one floor up from our old residence.

I don't know anything about our new teachers yet, and all I know about the new elders is that they are going to one of the missions in Argentina, as well. Our entire schedule is going to be different. I will give you more details next Friday.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving! How was it?! Did everyone from out-of-state make it? I know you were having a big crowd, so did you have enough food? Tell me everything! I missed all of you especially on Thanksgiving, but am glad to be here.

We had a great Thanksgiving, mostly because we had Elder Dallin Oaks and Elder Jeffrey Holland speak to us! The spirit was very strong during their talks, and it has been all along. I am becoming more aware of it all the time. Elder Oaks' talk was all right. He spoke about becoming a better missionary. Elder Holland's talk was very cool and it was about being thankful and also bettering ourselves. I liked his talk a lot!

The Thanksgiving food was very plentiful. Of course, the food here is always in surplus. They brought out a lot of new food though, and it was good.

On Thanksgiving we also did a humanitarian service project, making first aid kits for children over in Africa. We did it in an assembly line. My job was to close the Ziploc bags! Pretty much the easiest thing ever. We made a total of 8,000 kits.

Yes, Dad, I have gotten all of the inspirational stories that you have sent me, and I always share them with my companion(s), and they love them, as do I. I especially liked George Washington's Thanksgiving address. It really surprised me just how far our country and government has fallen away from trust and belief in God. It is quite sad. Washington's talk was like a church talk, and now the government is trying to tear down anything that speaks of God!

Things are going great here, and I have everything I need. However, my hands are pretty dry, so if you could send me some of the cream you used to give me, it would be appreciated. Other than that, everything here is working perfectly! You don't have to worry!

How are things back home? I better go, I love you all!

Love,
Eric
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Loving the MTC experience

A view of part of the campus of the Missionary Training Center

Argentina's flag is just to the right of center in this picture

Hello Everyone! You've asked a lot of questions, and a lot has happened this week, so I'm going to go ahead and just start answering the things I have been asked.

First of all, the 4 Dominican Republic elders in our district are leaving to go down to the MTC in the Dominican Republic tomorrow! That would have left my companionship as the entire district. But we just found out that we are being transferred to a new district with a good amount of elders. The new district kids are all going to Argentina, as well!

I love my old district so much and am really going to miss them. We met the new district and they seem nice, but I don't think we're going to be laughing as much. The elders seem like...Star Trek (Trekkie) type kids, which will be a little harder, but I'm sure we'll learn more, because they seem like they are very on-task people.

The new district will mean new everything: a new room, new teachers, people, classroom, schedule, everything! I'll take a picture of my old schedule for you, as well as my new schedule. The old schedule was for Spanish and Italian missionaries. The new schedule is for the Spanish and Portuguese missionaries. I'll also send you a picture of what a typical day on my planner looks like. (Get ready!) But until then, I'll just tell you briefly what happens: Wake up at 6:30, Breakfast is at 7:00. We have MDT (missionary directed training) until lunch at 11:30. Then we come back to class and have either class or MDT again (which can be like personal study time.) Then we go to dinner, come back and have MDT or class, and then go back to our residences, sleep, and repeat! Of course, it's more exciting than it sounds but basically that's what happens. An occasional fireside is thrown in here or there. (Mom's note: Don't worry, I know they have an hour for gym every day somewhere in the schedule! I think he is including it in the MDT.)

My comps (companions) are the bomb. (Mom's note for the grandparents: that is a good thing!) Someone asked me what all of our nicknames are, so here goes: mine is Elder Handsome (because it rhymes with my name), Elder Vanderholm is V-Holm, Elder Anderson is GQ (as in a GQ model), Elder Phillip's nickname is just his name, except we say it like the Argentinian's would, with the i's sounding like ee and with the two ll's making a soft j sound, "Pheejeeps." Elder Grollsky is Groll, Elder Wolff is Elder Lobo, and Elder Ward is just Elder Ward.

One funny thing my comps and I do is when we do a thing we call "companionship inventory", which means that a few times a week, we have a little couples therapy type of thing, in which you tell them how you feel, what you think about them, things we could work on, etc. And it's really quite funny, I'm not sure how it starts, but we all just end up laughing and screaming. Then the whole district comes into our room to get in on the fun. It's supposed to be more serious, so I wonder what the new district is going to think when they see us!

Another funny thing that has happened in my zone is when two elders had a gallon challenge, to see who could drink a whole gallon the fastest. Both of them ended up throwing up after only drinking about half a gallon. We have also had a few waterballoon attacks! I just love my zone.

I'm very excited for Thanksgiving this year, because President Jeffrey R. Holland is coming to speak to us. It should be a very spiritual holiday and I know there will be plenty of food.

We are at the beginning of Week 4 (the first Wed-Sunday counts as Week 1 even though it's not a full week.) We are moving along pretty well. Our teacher, Hermano Rousche, takes his job very seriously and doesn't like to get off task. But one day I said something funny and he almost fell out of his chair laughing. That is like a miracle! The joke would only make sense in the context of a long story he told us, so I won't tell it here. I am going to miss having him as a teacher, because he always gives such good lessons. When we move to the new district, he won't be our teacher anymore.

We have gone to the TRC (Teaching Resource Center) about 3 times now, and I've become a master at teaching the first lesson in English. And just as I have finally mastered it, they are now going to switch us to teaching the lesson all in Spanish! In fact, starting this Monday, all of our classes have been in all Spanish, with the occasional exception.

We just had 700 new missionaries come in to the MTC this past Wednesday. (The MTC can hold 4,200 missionaries.) It's fun that now I can call them "nuevos!" which is what everyone called out to us when we had first arrived. It means "newbies" as in "greenies."

Elizabeth Smart is here at the MTC, and she is going to Paris, France. She is very nice and I'm sure she is going to do an awesome job in France.

Every single day in the MTC is very spiritual. Last night was by far the home run of the most spiritual time I have ever experienced in my life. I won't go into detail, but everybody was crying. I know I have been telling you lots of little funny stories, but most of our time at the MTC is spent on the scriptures and learning and spiritual things.

I'm not sure if I told you yet, (I forget what I've already told you) but because of the fear of swine flu, we cannot shake hands, hug, or touch at all. It was a little awkward at first, but now it's normal. Every time we go to the TRC and we talk to real volunteers from the "outside", they always shake our hands and I feel like they're the weird ones, because they don't know the rules about hand shaking.

My estimated departure date is January 4. A week and a half ago, we met with the visa agent and she had us sign and fingerprint some documents. This means that our visas should be here now, or if not, they will be here very shortly because it takes about two weeks to get it after you sign/fingerprint.

Mom, I'm going to relay on to you some letters that I am hoping to have time to write to other people, and I don't have their addresses.

Don't worry because I have everything I need here. The MTC Bookstore has everything you could ever need, and they are very affordable, because they know we are all broke. I will hopefully be sending you some more pictures soon.

Love always,
Eric (Elder Hanson)

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Learning how to be a missionary

Two great missionaries...Samuel Smith and Eric!

Hey you guys,

I'm so glad you finally got my letter! And I want to thank you for writing me every day!

The first week went by fairly slowly, but this week has absolutely flown by. The first Monday, we started on the normal schedule, which will be the same exact schedule we will have every week until I leave. I love it!

You have asked me a lot of questions, so I will try to remember them and answer them. The names of the elders in my district:

Connor Vanderholm (from Elk, Washington)
Garret Anderson (from WallaWalla, Washington)
Rulon Ward
Michael Wolff (we call him Elder Lobo)
Bryan Groll
Mark Philips

We all have little nicknames but I won't get into that, especially since we are really trying to only call each other "Elder."

My building complex is the Erastus Snow Building (5M) and my room number is 5M-225. It is very conveniently located on the first floor! And yes, I am very warm at night, since I've been using the sleeping bag I brought as a blanket, because they don't provide blankets here.

The language is coming very easily to me, and to everyone in our district. The language study has really brought back all the memories of Spanish that I learned in high school, although we are now far ahead of what I learned in high school (or at Wendy's!) Focusing on Spanish, and working so hard at it, however, has really hammered my English ability. I am now making many spelling mistakes that I didn't used to, and I keep having to stop and correct myself.

The food is still very good, and I am quite surprised that despite the approximately 39 meals that we have had so far, they still continue to have new food every day, unlike school food where you had the same 5 meals year-round. (Mom's note: Yep, that's my son, all right...who else would have counted that they've eaten 39 meals?!) My only complaint about the food would be that it is never hot.

In a couple of hours, I am going to go to get a haircut. I had to schedule it out at the beginning of last week!

In a couple of weeks, our 4 Dominican Republic elders will be leaving to go down to the MTC in the Dominican Republic. So that means that our entire district will then consist of my companionship only! It has been great having them all in our district, but I guess maybe we'll get more out of the classes when there's only 3 of us, because it'll be like we're having a private tutor all the time.

We are having a great time going to the RC (Referral Center) and acting as official missionaries. Anyone who uses the mormon.org question center, or who calls the representative phone number, or orders anything from us, will be talking to us!!! No, not some educated teachers who do this for a living, but us, the missionaries-in-training! It's really fun, and it has been my favorite part of the whole MTC experience. I have done a lot of good, sent out lots of books, dvd's, and arranged for missionary visits, and hopefully some of those people will actually get baptized someday, because I helped them!

Continue telling everyone to use dearelder.com to communicate with me. It's the best way. Ask me any other questions you may have, and I'll probably mail you some more pictures in the future. Tell Marisa that I hope she gets over the flu soon, and tell Nana and Papa that I hope they have better luck next year with their garden.

I wish all of you the best!!!

Love always,
Elder Hanson (or Eric to you! :) )

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The First Letters Home!

Eric in the classroom at the MTC

Today, Saturday, November 14, 2009 we received a thick envelope in the mail from Eric. It contained pictures, a hand-written letter, and a paper copy of an email he had tried to send us on November 10 but that we had never received. It had been a very long ten days waiting to hear from Eric, but receiving his letter today was like Christmas!

Eric (5th from the left) with his district in front of the Provo Temple

Eric with his district, from left to right: Elder Groll, Elder Anderson, Elder Vanderholm, Elder Wolff, Elder Towner, Elder Ward, Elder Hanson, Elder Philips, Elder Calvert




November 10, 2009

Hey family, it's great to finally write you. Our P-Day is on Tuesday, which conveniently is furthest from the time you dropped me off! Just the same, I've gotten all of your mail, and love getting it. Missionary mail is a great thing, because although I can only write you once a week (every Tuesday), I can receive and read all your letters every day. I love all your letters so be sure and tell everyone to mail me using the missionary mail. If you use the dearelder.com site, you can use it while I am in the MTC and once I get to Argentina, too! Anyone can send me mail through the regular post office, too. I have received all of your mail through the dearelder.com site, and also a letter from Holly and Scott. (I know that all of the letters you are writing through the dearelder.com site are getting to me, so just keep doing what's been working.)

I love the MTC and a lot of it is because of the awesome district I'm in. My district had 9 elders, 5 going to Argentina, Rosario and 4 going to the Dominican Republic. But just yesterday Elder Towner and Elder Calvert (the one we met in Tucano's Restaurant right before we came to the MTC) left our district to move to a more advanced level, since they've both taken four years of Spanish. I am in a companionship of three, so Elder Vanderholm and Elder Anderson and myself are all going to Rosario. Then Elder Phillips and Elder Groll are going to the Dominican Republic, and Elder Wolf and Elder Ward are also going to the Dominican Republic.

Elder Vanderholm and Elder Anderson and I are all the best of friends and get along great. Everyone in our district puts in their part and we all work together well and have a lot of fun, too. Elder Vanderholm is our District Leader, which he does a great job as, although district leaders don't really have to do too much in the MTC. Everything here is planned, organized and on a set, non-changing schedule. We have 3 meals a day, which is a good thing because working hard and learning so much really makes me hungry. My appetite has grown quite a bit since I've been here, (Mom's note: I didn't think that was even possible!) although so far I haven't put on any weight. The meals are good, but they're never warm by the time we get them.

My teachers are great, they are Hermana (Sister) Burrubs and Hermano (Brother) Rousche (my favorite.) They served in Texas and Mexico City. They're both excellent teachers, although Hermano Rousche's lessons are very deep and really get you thinking.

Waking up at 6:30 a.m. has been a piece of cake (so far anyway!) (Mom's note: have they switched my son?!) and going to bed is, of course, easy. Even though we go to bed around 11:30 p.m. usually, we still have plenty of energy. Getting so little sleep, however, makes us very light-hearted and giddy. In other words, we are drunk with laughter because of the lack of sleep, which makes it quite fun. I'll tell a story about this, because I'm sure Dad has had similar experiences and can relate. We pray, bear testimony and say basic sentences in Spanish. Two nights ago during companion prayer, Elder Vanderholm who was giving the prayer, said "Nuestro Pablo..." (should have been Nuestro Padre...) at which point we busted out laughing hysterically to the point where we were just rolling on the ground. We've also had similar experiences during district prayer where we just start laughing and once that happens, it's hard to do a real prayer. We laugh like no one is watching! Just the same, our district is great at being able to have fun, and then switch gears to move into a spiritual discussion. I love all my district and my companions.

Yesterday for the first time, we got to chat with real people who go to mormon.com and ask questions. It was really fun and I feel I helped some people, although a lot of people just get on the site to Bible bash or mess around.

I only have 30 minutes to write each week so I apologize if there are errors in this or if I forget to tell you something. Please send hangers as I have none for my pants and shirts. Our district is 42. My time is out now, so just know I love you and tell everyone they can feel free to mail me anytime.

Love,
Elder Hanson

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November 12, 2009

Familia!!! Hello from the MTC! It's great to be able to write you right now, although since this is the MTC, there are almost like zero minutes of free time and not even enough time to study all that we need to. Despite this, I love it here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I sent you an email to your email address on Tuesday morning (around 8:00 a.m.) and was shocked that you didn't get my email yet. Did you change your email address or maybe it got put in your junk folder? (Mom's note: I checked everything, including my junk folder, every five minutes since Eric has been in the MTC...so where that email went is a real mystery...where is Sherlock Holmes when we need him?!) Either way, I obtained a printout of my sent email (it was hard to get!) and am now going to send you my email in the regular mail.

Thank you for all of the letters. It's just like in the movie, "The Best Two Years", the scene of all the elders waiting for mail. That's us, all of us waiting anxiously for mail delivery and it always excites us. Just the same, we stay focused which is the important thing. Please also post this on my blog since it's a letter. Also, sorry for errors. The important thing is that I write you, because I don't have time to write and EDIT a letter, just doing the writing is all there is time for!

I love you guys, and there will be a more detailed email this coming Tuesday. Things are great. Included are some pictures. Also, please tell the South's thank-you for sending me a care package. They sent me an all-green box of all-green candies. The theme, of course, was that I am a greenie. It was yummy and I still have some candies left.

Please share my email with everyone who wants it. I'll normally write once a week, through email on Tuesdays, but today was an exception since I had pictures and you didn't get my email. Please tell me which email address you want me to use.

I miss and love you guys, but don't worry, the MTC is set up so that you have no time to think of anything else except the gospel, (with the exception of writing letters!) Again, I apologize because I know my normal handwriting is bad (Mom's note: yes, it definitely looks like a chicken walked across the page...) and this letter was written in like five minutes at Mach 5 speed, so sorry it's a mess. You guys rock, though, and I will write you again soon. :)

Love,
Elder Hanson

ADDENDUM: Eric's email finally did arrive in my email inbox, with the original date and time that he wrote it. We have since found out that there had been some trouble with the server for the missionary mail, but hopefully it has been fixed. I guess his email was floating out in cyberspace for about 5 days before reaching us!
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Arriving at the Missionary Training Center

Eric gets his suitcases hooked together so he can wheel them through the parking lot, across the street, and into the Missionary Training Center.



Here he is, at the entrance to the grounds! Eric is ready for the MTC, but is the MTC ready for Eric?!



The last few days have been filled with family getting together at every opportunity, including this last busy morning when family members dropped by our house to say good-bye to Eric before we left for the MTC. Here is the family that was able to make the drive down to Provo.
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On our way to the Missionary Training Center

The long-awaited day has finally arrived for Eric to enter the MTC. First, we made a few stops on the way. Here is Eric holding the menu at Tucano's Restaurant. Every meal for the next 9 weeks will be eaten in the MTC cafeteria, so Eric is eager to enjoy his last meal out!

We also stopped at the Missionary Mall on our way to the MTC, so Eric could show us on the map where his destination will be after his nine weeks of training.
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Eric's Farewell

Relatives came from near and far to attend Eric's farewell on Sunday, October 25, 2009. He gave an excellent talk about the Atonement. We are all so proud of Eric!
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